I’m sure you’re aware that many Hindi words have come straight from the English language, say for example स्कूल skool - School or कंप्यूटर kampyootar - Computer. These words come from both the old British rule in India and the modern global use of English. 

But something you might not know is that there are many common English words that actually have their origins in Hindi! Today I’m going to show you just a couple of these, so are you ready? 

What do you call a one story house? That’s right, a Bungalow. The English word bungalow in fact comes from the Hindi word बंगला banglaa which means (of) Bengali style. So next time you go to use the word Bungalow you can think to yourself that the word comes from a Bengali stye house! 

And what about the little bed baby’s sleep in? We call that a cot. Guess where the word cot comes from? (Well it is kind of obvious don’t you think!). It actually comes from the Hindi word खाट khaat which in Hindi just means ‘bed’. Can you see how these words are simialar? 

Next we have the word Jungle. This comes from the Hindi word जंगल jangal which means, well Jungle. Remember that what I’m saying is that the English word 'Jungle’ comes directly from the Hindi word जंगल jangal. So one last word for today…

I’m sure you’ve come across the word 'Thug’ before. It means a criminal, a robber a gang member or something like that yeah? Well the word Thug comes directly from the Hindi word ठग thag which is used to mean a criminal or a gang!Can you see how similar these words are? Their pronunciation is a little different though.

There’s a much longer list of English words with Hindi origin here on Wikipedia, so be sure to check it out if you’re interested.

Word etymology is something I personally find really interesting, so hopefully you will too. Next time you use any of these words in conversation remember that they are originally from Hindi!